Demons of Chaos
by GingeOnDaFringe
Summary: Shadow the Hedgehog is never meant to be happy. He's doomed to live an empty and aimless life in every dimension... until someone changes the past, releasing a terrible evil, but also creating a new timeline that gives him a chance to change his fate. A chance he'd better take. The future of Mobius depends on it. *Contains some OCs and diverse pairings (including CanonxOC)*
1. The Oathbreaker and His Daughter

**WARNING: because of the nature of the plot, this chapter deals exclusively with OCs. I realize what a bad move this is, but it's a calculated risk. It will be the only chapter without any canon characters in this fic. You're free to flame, of course, but you might as well not waste your time, because you really can't tell me something I already know :P**

 _I must not panic. If I panic, neither of us stands a chance._

 _Do not panic._

 _Auraleous do not panic. Slow your heart._

No amount of talking to my own mind did anything to keep my thoughts from buzzing around like bees. No amount of consoling myself changed the fact that Laila could not help me with this greatest danger any more than she could help me raise our daughter these seven long seasons.

As I feverishly gouged symbols into the dusty soil of our cave's floor, I hissed a stream of pleas and curses between my teeth. My eyes were burning with tears that would not come. This could not work. But it had to. Or we would both be dead, dead, dead, like Laila and all the other Oath breakers like me.

 _If there is any benevolent deity out there, please. Let this work. I will do anything, I will give anything, just save us, save my daughter, please-_

I realized that I had left out an entire inscription in my haste and growled as I rubbed it out. Fine grit bit into the already raw heels of my hands.

"Papa," I heard a small voice whisper. I glanced up into the shadowy corner of the cave and saw my daughter's eyes glinting in fear, partially visible behind a stalagmite. "Papa, someone's coming."

I got to my feet and checked the scroll once more, comparing what I had etched compared to what I had yet to do. I was almost done with the inscription, but I still had to complete the incantations, burnt offerings, and blood sacrifice. "I know love, I can hear them too."

She sunk out of sight as I returned to my work, keeping the scroll bunched tightly in one fist. As I finished the last phrase, a clatter of footsteps erupted at the mouth of our cave. I couldn't stop then, not when I was so close. I began the incantation.

" _Haar lewe te bewaar. Hou haar veilig. Haar weg-"_

"Auraleous! Auraleous, are you in here?"

"- _te steek van alle kwaad_." As the voice got closer, I began to read faster. " _Laat niks haar raak. Laat niemand haar_ -"

" _Auraleous!_ Ye fool, honestly!"

I finally looked up as a figure entered my periphery. "- _siek te vind_. Carsus _!_ What are you _doing_ here?"

"Have you gone _mad?_ " Carsus barked, ears lowering against his head. "If you're going to break the Oath, you could at _least_ be a bit less _predictable_! The other Chosen are coming for you _right now!_ And the place you choose to hide is your _own home?!_ "

I grunted and went back to chanting. I was sorry that I asked.

Carsus tossed his head and began to pace the room. "I can't believe that you kept this from me for so long. I'm supposed to be your friend, Auraleous! And you're an Oath breaker! How long ago did this happen?"

Instead of answering, I began to strike two firestones together while struggling to remember the sacred language.

"Draer is practically on your doorstep! What are you going to _do?_ He is going to _kill you_ you ignoramus! Has that gotten through your thick skull yet?!"

The herbs finally caught fire and were quickly engulfed in green flames. I carefully rose to face my old companion. "We are already slated for death. Or worse. If Draer finds you here, he will kill you too."

He stared me down for a moment more, his lips pulled away from his long teeth and the fur on his neck bristling. Then the expression melted into shock. His dark eyes were penetrating. "We. You said we."

My stomach dropped. Carsus looked at the altar behind me as if seeing it for the first time. His hand went to his belt and wrapped around the hilt of his obsidian dagger.

"Where is it." He posed it like a demand instead of a question. He slowly slid the sacrificial dagger out of its hilt, eyes never leaving mine.

"You will not touch her," I said steadily, wishing to paralyze him with willpower alone. I wanted to believe he wouldn't, but I knew better. He didn't understand what he was trying to do, and there was nothing I could do to change his mind.

"I said _where is it,_ Auraleous." He began to move towards me. The dagger reflected the green fire and candlelight like black water.

"Leave now, before Draer arrives. Or before you force my hand," I warned him quietly. My shoulders were beginning to tense.

His eyes saddened, but he didn't stop advancing. "After everything, it's still alive. You would threaten _me,_ for that… that… _abomination._ Give your life for it, even."

I snarled, swiping a wooden stake off a shelf next to me. "'That abomination' is my _daughter_ you _bastard!_ "

Carsus howled and charged at me, swinging his blade. The obsidian edge bit into the wooden stake a claw away from my ear. Both of our arms were shaking from trying to overpower the other. He growled deeply, hot rank breath blowing my whiskers uncomfortably. I built a growl of my own into a caterwaul, wanting to sink a blow into his stomach with my knee but unwilling to weaken my stance.

Finally, as I knew it would, the stake snapped in half and the obsidian dagger bit into my shoulder. Momentarily stunned by his own actions, Carsus stumbled away from me. Little did he know he had fed the smoldering ashes the blood sacrifice they needed anyway. I took advantage of his shock and kicked him in the chest.

I turned to the altar to pry out a stone low to the ground, fully aware of Carsus recovering behind me. At the moment that the stone came loose and I could finally see the dimly glowing Chaos Emerald within, I heard him gasp. I looked sharply at him, then the direction he was staring.

She was frozen, half out of the shadows, ears pricked and hazel eyes wide like saucers.

" _Desdemona!_ " I yelled as Carsus lunged towards her. I barely caught him by the ankle. She scurried around the other side of the altar to cower behind me. He hit the ground hard. I winced at the strain in my injured shoulder. "No one has to die today, Carsus. I can save her, and if you leave now you can still get out of this alive."

He twisted to glower at me. He spat blood and snapped, "What about _you_?"

I hadn't thought that far yet. I just looked away and let him go.

"You're a traitor and a fool," he said.

"And you're a heartless coward."

He stood unsteadily. "I hope it was worth it, old friend."

I met his gaze evenly and put a hand on my shoulder and the aching arm around my violently shaking child. "You and the other Chosen know nothing of love, as Draer wills. I would give anything to save my own flesh and blood. Love is worth more than you could measure."


	2. A Mission Most Unexpected

**I sure hope you enjoyed that potato chip of a first chapter, because there probably won't be another chapter that short for a while ;)**

PART ONE: SHADOW

I looked up and down the hallway, waiting, with my quills bushed out. The last time I saw a guard was several corridors ago… It was far too quiet here. If I was in the right place, I should be swarmed with guards, right? Were Overlanders just stupid? You would think an invention this valuable would be more tightly guarded. The lack of security was more disconcerting than a sudden attack would be.

A specially designed lock pick on the door let out a shrill beep. As I glanced down at it, the pulsing red light on its side solidified into a steady green glow. I took a breath and drew my pistol from the holster attached to my Kevlar vest, which was now part of the standard equipment, even though I was practically bulletproof. Regulations, I swear…

The door slid left, into the wall, and my free hand felt for the "hold" button on the tiny door hacker and pressed it so the door wouldn't close behind me. Carefully I moved my hand from the robotic lock pick to join my other hand on the gun and stepped through the doorway. I needed the gun a whole lot more than the vest. I had not been able to induce Chaos Control for months. All the security was probably within, and I _needed_ that protection.

There was a second door, but it had no locks or handles, and included a circular window that only an Overlander would be able to comfortably see through. So this was it. Beyond this very flimsy, probably-not-radiation-proofed door was a very unstable weapon of some kind. The details did not matter. Lucas Industries had revived a WMD project kept secret for decades, and G.U.N. had jumped in to destroy it.

The air was charged with something almost familiar, like electricity. I noticed that my heart started to beat harder, but I could not trace a single emotion to it. I willed it to slow down, even though I knew it would not actually help. Never had I experienced anything like it before; it was like I could _feel_ the blood moving through my veins with every pulse of my heart. Compared to some of the other missions I had been on, this was a piece of cake. Yet, paranoia convinced me that I was mutating in the radioactive air.

Suddenly, I felt a familiar buzz at my fingertips. I looked at my hands, startled to see that they were trembling, covered in a bright yellow glow.

 _What the-!_ I had not attempted Chaos Control! I had not even thought about it! _You show up_ now, _do you? When I do not need you at all?_

I slid my gun back in its holster and shook my hands out. Golden drops of Chaos flew from my fingertips like rain, burning tiny holes in the floor.

I took a deep breath. I had orders to leave minimal traces of my visit, so I could either disobey a direct order and Chaos Blast a wall apart to drain this new energy or attempt to finish my mission the right way. It was a crying shame I had lost my inhibitor rings a few scuffles ago. I have not been feeling anywhere close to one hundred percent since then. In my mind, my next position was clear: I had to go on, but finish ASAP. Something very wrong was going on here.

I drew the pistol once more and kicked the door open. The pounding in my head and heart got more violent, and my vision swayed. I stepped through the doorway, feeling strangely sick. I recognized the feeling as nausea, even though I had never experienced it for myself.

It was empty. I looked around the half-lit room. It had four white walls, a tile floor, this door, and half-lit fluorescent lights on the ceiling. Maybe I had expected a bit more flair, perhaps a dais or class-enclosed case. But I was not expecting a small figure lying peacefully on the floor.

It was a… child?

For crying out loud!

Nothing was clicking. _What is a kid doing in a Lab complex? Unless it was already here…_

Against my better judgment, I crouched down beside the sleeping figure. It was furry and wearing some sort of white jumpsuit. It had two dark grey ears, lightly striped reddish-grey fur, and a long, fluffy tail that was curled tightly around its body.

A Cat child? A _mobian?_ In _this_ Overlander building, of all places? I secured my hands under its arms and lifted it into the air. The mobian's tail hung straight down and its head lolled back.

How long had it been since I had seen – let alone touched - another mobian? It had to have been years, a decade at least. My old partner, Rouge, had been transferred to another sector a long time ago, and we completely lost contact afterwards. Rumor had it that Sonic had joined a band after Dr. Eggman's final defeat. The Fox was probably with him. Knuckles had gone missing; last I heard, he had left civilization without so much as a goodbye to anyone. But what about the others? The pink and silver Hedgehogs, the purple Cat, the little Rabbit, the Chaotix-

Where had they gone?

I laid the Cat back down. I had a mission to complete. Somehow the tracking device on my wrist had malfunctioned, and I had to find that weapon before it became a threat, with or without the help of G.U.N.'s equipment.

But as I withdrew my hands, I realized they were stained red.

Was that… blood?

A mobian child in an Overlander facility is one thing, but a wounded one... I scooped the Cat back up and inspected it for any signs of blood. Nothing. It was all rusty grey and white.

Once again, I laid it on the ground. My gloves were now _soaked_. Was _I_ bleeding? I stripped off both gloves. My hands were perfectly fine. I flexed them and curled them into fists.

Finally, I stroked the gloves with a bare finger. To my surprise, the thick red mark disappeared wherever I touched it. I switched fingers with the same result. As soon as I got close enough, the redness would flow towards my hand and vanish before touching me. I balled up the glove in my fist and waited a few seconds. I uncurled my hand, and it was white again.

 _Strange…_ I thought, and did the same with the other glove. But just as I was sliding it back onto my hand, I caught a whiff of something unmistakable.

It was smoke from an electrical fire, with a hint of gunpowder. Far off I could hear a muffled boom as something exploded.

Time to go.

I snatch up the Cat for the third time- I could not leave it here to burn in its sleep- and dashed through the open doorway, carrying it over one shoulder. I pried the lock pick off the keypad with one hand. The light on it went out and I strapped it to the belt on my vest. I did not have an Emerald or even my inhibitor rings to lend me aid, so I started running down the hall. Where was the unexplainable Chaos Energy when I needed it?

Smoke began smothering the lights in the ceiling and it started getting harder to breathe. I can hold my breath for, oh, twenty minutes or so. But the kid wouldn't last very long like this. Wait a minute, was it even _alive_? I hadn't even thought to check for a pulse…well, it was not heavy, so I decided to press on. If I could just get to a better ventilated area, I should have enough time to send out a signal to receive directions out.

… _Why is the smoke getting thicker?_ This was the way I had come in. Or was it? I cursed silently. I was probably running the wrong way. I skidded to a stop and started racing back as fast as I could.

Suddenly, there was a massive _crack_ and the ceiling and all of its pipes and wires collapsed in front of me, plunging us in utter darkness. If any time was a good time to attempt an easy escape, it was now.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" I yelled, and the darkness was gone in a flash of light.

* * *

Three days later, I sat across a desk from Commander Abraham Tower in a room with no walls.

The effect of the 360 degree windows left me feeling very exposed, and there was no place to hide from the Commander's gaze. It bothered me to no end that he used the exact same intimidation tactics that I did. Did the man ever _blink_? I had not missed the awkward stare-offs in the months since I had last seen Tower. Such disrespect. To think that he had feared me once.

Tower had his fingers laced together and his elbows on the black mirror-like desk. It was exactly thirty-seven seconds before he smirked - my ear flicked in irritation; did this human throw _all_ of my trademarks back at my face? - and broke the news to me.

"The success of your last mission has earned you a transfer."

I was unimpressed. I did not appreciate his sarcasm.

"What sector?" I asked flatly.

Tower laughed. "Sector? You won't be working for G.U.N anymore. We're sending you to INSTAR."

A research facility? This was worse than being a desk jockey again. The quills on my spine bristled at the unexpected and assuredly bad news. "You cann _ot_ do that."

Tower leaned forward, leering. His eyes were narrowed. "Of course I can. As a G.U.N. agent, the government owns you. And I represent the government here."

A cold feeling crept into the pit of my stomach. This couldn't be happening. I had no fondness for G.U.N., but it was quite literally my _life._ Doing private detective work had lasted less than six months, and after that, I did not have a clue what to do next so I returned here. Had I not _just_ been thinking about all the connections I had let slip away while on my last mission? I had nothing left - nothing but my position here.

I took a slow breath. "INSTAR is a lab, right? Science isn't exactly my area of expertise. Why are you sending me there?"

Tower leaned back in his chair. "I'm glad you asked."

He took a remote off his desk and clicked a button. An image flashed onto the window behind him. It was some sort of lab report. "We did some digging in the weapon's file. We discovered a connection to another, more obscure project."

The image changed into DNA diagrams and some radiation tests. "Your last mission wasn't a failure like you reported. You did, in fact, bring us the weapon we were hunting for. The Demon Project wasn't focused on a WMD at all, at least in the way we were expecting. The Demon Project is a Cat from the Subproject Desdemona. The names are the only unencrypted pieces of information given in the reports."

I could have laughed, but it was very _not_ funny. I also was not surprised. Why did this always seem to happen? Why do scientists not build atomic bombs anymore? Why were they so obsessed with animal –especially mobian- experimentation these days?

"What does this have to do with me?" I asked slowly.

"Well," Tower said, raising his eyebrows, "You seem to have two ears, four limbs, and a nose."

I frowned. "So do most of the other agents."

"Not after encountering Desdemona," Tower's eyes glinted.

My pelt prickled. I was G.U.N.'s best agent; it did not make sense that they would send me away just because a friend needed a babysitter. "I still don't get it."

"You were in the company of the Demon for, oh, seven minutes, yes?" Towers asked.

I nodded.

"The challenging record is two minutes and twenty-three seconds. The man, one of our top agents, lost his arm from the elbow down, along with a large chunk of his leg."

"To a tiny cat?"

"To a tiny cat," Towers confirmed.

"And you're sending me to INSTAR with it so they can… study it."

His grin widened. "Yes."

"And it's my responsibility because it didn't try to kill me while it was _unconscious_?"

"It would appear so."

I ran a hand over my ear, thinking. I had no choice. If I was supposed to go to INSTAR, well, it is not like I had any other options. But I did have one last question.

"Is INSTAR equipped to deal with it?" I had no intention of spending every second of the next few months keeping the little brat in a cell made of cardboard.

"Her," Towers corrected. "And it was either INSTAR or Blur."

Blur.

My side trains of thought disintegrated. Every quill on my body stiffened at the name. The name of the asylum that held the broken-minded enemies of Mobius, including the infamous Dr. Eggman, who had changed his name back to Robotnik at the asylum's doors. It was funded by Mobius's greatest hero, the Blue Blur himself.

Towers' lips drew back from his teeth at my reaction. It must have been visible how disgusted I was by the abstract reference to _him_. I cursed my slip of emotions; I had let Towers know he had touched a nerve. Mobius was as corrupt as ever, but my old rival had stopped fighting shortly after Robotnik's final defeat. He was an incredible failure, and a cowardly failure at that.

"Yes," I said quietly. "INSTAR is secure enough. I will go as soon as I'm needed."

"Excellent," Towers said, standing up. "Your plane leaves in an hour."

* * *

"… _Just down the street from that break-in last week, a_ lab _called_ "Lucas Industries" _burned to the ground in_ broad daylight! _The cause of the fire is currently unknown, but so far, the investigation has unearthed the remnants of some sort of crude_ bomb _… Several scientists were injured in the explosion, but none were killed. A spokesman for Lucas has confirmed that although most of their equipment was destroyed, nothing has been reported missing… The motivation behind the arson is still up for debate, but it appears that whoever is responsible had no other intention but to cause as much damage to company property as possible…"_

An incredibly rambunctious family of Meerkats passed between me and the flat-screen, which was mounted to the wall of the airport baggage claim. The interruption broke my concentration, enabling me to process what I had just heard…

Something the anchor had said was bugging me: "… _nothing has been reported missing…"_

That most certainly did _not_ ring true. I distinctly remembered stealing a young Cat - the whole reason I was in this overcrowded airport in the first place. Was the kitten not the Demon Project after all? Or, more likely, was Lucas Industries pretending she had never existed? Unbelievable. I have possibly saved Mobius from certain doom, yet again, and nobody knows it.

"Shadow the Hedgehog?"

I reached reflexively for my gun, but of course it was not there. G.U.N. had confiscated it for the time being, and I had not had enough time to get another one yet.

"Yes?" I growled carefully, slowly turning my head to eye the jumpy-looking Lynx that had addressed me.

"My name is Trip," the Lynx said, swallowing hard. "I'll be escorting you to INSTAR. Do you have any bags?"

"No," I grunted, and motioned for him to lead the way.

"Er… right," Trip mumbled, and turned to the west exit. He glanced at me over his shoulder, obviously nervous to have me out of his line of sight.

Unsurprisingly, the clusters of mobian travelers fell silent as we passed them, a phenomenon I am used to. Trip the Lynx obviously was not, because his fur bristled more and more as we walked until he resembled a fluffy brown burr. However, the moment we stepped out of the crowded, high-ceilinged room and into the late summer sun, Trip deflated like a balloon.

"This way!" he said cheerily, an obnoxious skip in his step. As we crossed the street, a bus ran a red light and roared by a mere five feet away from us, but the Lynx didn't even break his stride. I decided this male had some serious issues. Perhaps INSTAR had experimented on him at some point.

After roughly ten minutes of following my skipping escort through the evening sunshine, we reached an island of birch trees in the middle of a long-term airport parking lot. The instant I passed under the shadow of the first tree, Trip whirled around, a large gold ring pinched vertically between his finger and thumb.

"Ta-da…" he sang quietly, flicking it with his other hand to make it spin. It caught the light and scattered tiny beams in all directions, satisfying the Lynx immensely.

"A warp ring." I raised an eyebrow.

"Yup," Trip beamed. "Cool, i'nnit? It'll take you straight to INSTAR. I had to take you here to be _discreet."_

I frowned. So I could not have warped from a bathroom or something? That is why _I_ make my _own_ decisions. In a flash the warp ring was gone from the Lynx's hand and securely in mine.

"So old Finitivus finally spilled…" I muttered, examining the liquid gold ring. Mobius's top engineers had been trying to replicate the eccentric echidna's inventions for years. I glared up at Trip.

" _You_ are a ridiculous waste of time," I informed him, activating the ring. It widened to my exact height and I immediately shoved my leg through the swirling white light. Trip's eyes widened and he lunged for me. "Wait! I'm supposed to go with-"

Not waiting for him to finish his sentence, I leaned all the way through the ring and sealed it behind me, leaving him and his quixotic skipping behind. I knew if I let him through with me he would inevitably resume such frivolities. That would be unacceptable.

The lobby of the INSTAR research facility was bright and airy, but also very empty. I did a slow 180⁰ turn, taking in the window covered walls and white tile floor. Fluffy white clouds drifted across the rich blue sky and an emerald green lawn stretched out to a busy highway, broken only by a large white stone courtyard. Directly above a quiet indoor fountain was a large animated sign that flashed, "INSTAR: THE SEARCH FOR A BRIGHTER TOMORROW BEGINS TODAY." A sleek black receptionist's desk stood in a far corner. One wide hallway stretched in front of me, and the other branched off to the left.

The dignified tapping of leather dress shoes announced the arrival of a dark brown Otter in a white lab coat as he emerged from the corridor to my left. As soon as he saw me standing aimlessly in the middle of the lobby, he directed his course to my side. There was a ringing silence as his footsteps stopped.

"You must be Shadow."

It was not a question. I flicked my ear, waiting for him to continue.

"Are you armed, son?" he asked kindly. I stared at him.

"I just left a civilian airport, without any special clearance from G.U.N.. Of course I am unarmed." I responded dully.

"Ah…of course." The Otter straightened, his brown eyes searching my face. "I am Professor Reed. I'll be escorting you to your new office, so, Mr. Trip, you are free to-"

The Otter froze, suddenly realizing I was alone. "Where is Trip?"

"I left him behind," I muttered. "He was trying my temper."

Interestingly, Professor Reed did not look surprised. "Well, this isn't the first time, nor will it be the last… No matter. Follow me."

Reed led me down the front hallway, which was almost half as wide as the lobby. It was flanked by interior windows on both sides, the lowest reaches of them stroked by sweeping vines, and the rest brushed by wide, exotic leaves. As a stiff breeze caused the plants to sway just right, I could make out more windows on the opposite side.

After a few moments the hallway split, and the Otter took the right fork, down a hallway that had a plain white wall dotted with doors on one side but more floor-to-ceiling windows on the other. We took several more turns, most of the corridors lined with these windows.

Finally, Professor Reed slowed his pace and turned down a final hallway, which was predictably enclosed by windows, but led to a single, unmarked door. He pulled a lanyard attached to an electronic keycard out of the pocket of his lab coat and waved it in front of a small box on the wall by the door. There was a dull _thunk_ and the Otter opened the door, holding it for me.

Inside was a closet-sized space with two other doors, one in front and one to the left. Reed unlatched the door to the left and announced, "Meet your new partner!"

Partner? I narrowed my eyes. I had not been _informed_ that I had to work _with_ someone…!

No. Oh no.

I caught my first eyeful of my new coworker, and oh Chaos, if my throat wasn't clear I would have choked from shock- and it takes a _lot_ to surprise me.

The young male sitting at the paper-covered desk was not so lucky. As his wheeled office chair was spinning towards us, he was taking a long drink from a bottle of water. The moment his deep blue eyes lighted on my face, he inhaled the water and doubled over, coughing and gagging.

"Pull yourself together, Miles," Professor Reed scolded lightly, amused.

The yellow Fox stumbled to his feet, wheezing.

" _Please_ tell me you're joking!" he choked, pushing his bangs out of his eyes.

"I am not," Reed said, turning stern. "You will be working together for as long as this project lasts. I am sure you two will get along famously."

"But-" The Otter stepped back through the door and snapped it shut before the Fox could finish. A few papers rustled in the breeze of his exit. Sonic's closest friend stared at the closed door, unmoving, his mouth hanging open slightly.

As was habit, I crossed my arms over my chest and stared him down. His eyes apprehensively slid into mine.

"Tell me you're not who I think you are," he begged quietly.

"… I remember you," I said, ignoring his plea completely. "You built things for that blue hedgehog."

The Kitsune flinched and flattened his ears like I had hit him. "Y-yeah…."

He sat down suddenly and started rapidly flipping through the papers on his desk. I could immediately tell that there was something… _off…_ about him. It was more than the fact that he was almost as tall as me _and_ wearing clothes, grey sweatpants and a sleeveless red-and-white striped shirt. He had a weird… twitch. I distinctly remembered that he used to possess an insufferable abundance of courage- so what happened to make him so anxious?

"We ran some tests on Subproject Desdemona earlier today…" the Fox said, almost to himself. He turned completely around to dig through a stack of papers on the floor, and at the same time that I noticed a small diamond-shaped tattoo on his neck, I realized I couldn't remember his name.

"What is my purpose here… Tails, is it?"

The yellow Fox turned to stone for a minute, halting in mid-flip. At that moment, I also noticed several silver studs in each ear.

"Miles…" he muttered. Then, in a louder voice, he said, "My name is Miles."

Whatever makes you happy? "All right _Miles,_ how long will this mission take?"

Miles pulled away from the avalanche of paperwork on his desk and started clicking around on his many computers instead. "Maybe I didn't print it yet… how long? Well, we're hoping to socialize her enough to work with, and if and when you accomplish _that_ , G.U.N. will probably take you back."

The original mission was to destroy the alleged "weapon of mass destruction". Now…Socialize? I looked away from him and into a dark corner. I had to track down a rogue G.U.N. agent once, and someone had talked about needing to "socialize" him once he was in custody. The rogue was _crazy_! He took out half of my team before we could restrain him.

Somewhere in the nest of papers a timer beeped. Miles looked up from the computer, ears pricked. "Huh. Now what did I set that timer for…"

He started digging around in the papers again, this time to find the source of the beeping. I finally took the chance to look around the office.

There were two tables, pushed together into an "L" shape in the far corner, which was where the papers were strewn. At the end of one was a small refrigerator and on the other was a large printer. All the walls were lined with filing cabinets and stabbed through with thumb tacks, which held up various abstract equations. The thin blue carpet was covered in paper as well, but it was also littered with paper balls and cardboard boxes. There were no lights except for what spilled out from the computer monitors and a giant window that took up the top half of the left side of the right wall.

"Ah-hah!" Miles snatched up a small timer and turned it off, but didn't put it down. He frowned at it. "But what did I _set_ it for…?"

While he puzzled over this, I attempted to look through the window without actually moving. Instead of the outside world, it seemed to be showing the inside of yet another room, one without plants. That was strange…

The Kitsune cursed suddenly. I stared at him, a bit taken aback. He threw the timer over his shoulder and yanked the refrigerator door open. It had a few food products in it, but it was mostly filled by tiny, inch-high bottles. He plucked two purple ones off two different shelves and slammed the door shut. He set them on his desk and jumped over a stack of papers to go through his drawers at lightning speed.

"Yes!" he said, holding a syringe in the air victoriously. He uncapped it with his teeth and picked up the purple bottle with a pale liquid swirling around in it. Holding it upside down between his middle and index fingers, the two-tailed Fox fed the tip of the needle right through the top of the bottle and slowly dragged the stopper down. After injecting the contents of one bottle into the other one, which had some sort of powder in it, Miles started gently rolling the bottle up and down his palm, using the needle as an axle.

"We have to do this fast," he said seriously, though it sounded like ' _We haff do do dis fasht'_. After sucking the mixture back into the syringe, he spit the cap into his hand and popped back over the sharp needle tip. "She has to filter all the anesthesia out of her system soon, of it'll mess with the tests tomorrow."

He handed the syringe to me. "Pull up her scruff and inject this at the base, parallel to her spine."

"You want me to - is it a good idea to stick a wild animal with needles?" I stared at the syringe in my hand.

"It's only _one,_ " Miles shrugged. "Besides, she's asleep. This injection will wake her up."

I curled my fist around the plastic cylinder. "How quickly?"

Miles pulled his ears back and grinned like a cornered animal - all teeth. "Who knows, maybe seconds, an hour? But there's only one way to find out, right?"

* * *

 _Guardian Units of Nations Headquarters_

Commander Abraham Tower stared intently at a hologram suspended several inches above his desk. The surrounding windows had been electronically tinted, giving the illusion of a pre-mature dusk. A cross-section of an austere-looking building, made completely of blue light, revolved slowly as the Commander studied it.

 _Wsst._

The door to his private office slid open. The Commander squinted through the blue hologram at the silhouette in his office doorway, sighed, and slid his fingers across the surface of the desk. The hologram flickered and died.

"I didn't think your kind came out in the daylight," he mused, pressing the tips of his fingers together.

Two more silhouettes joined the first. The room brightened as the windows cleared, revealing three mobians standing in a point.

"You were mistaken," said the first. The other two, standing several steps behind him, narrowed their eyes.

Commander Tower sighed. "I suppose you are here for a status report?"

Laughing humorlessly, the first mobian said, "You would suppose correctly. Is everything in place?"

"Yes. The girl is already at INSTAR, as you ordered."

"And the Hedgehog?"

"Shadow should arrive shortly, if he isn't there already."

The mobian smiled slowly. "You have served me well, Overlander."

The three mobians turned on heel to leave, the second and third stopping in the doorway to let their leader pass.

Tower cleared his throat, a bit annoyed by them dashing in and out unannounced. "I have done all you have asked of me. There is little else I can do… so am I free now?"

The first mobian stopped, and raised a relaxed hand into the air. The Commander's heart plummeted to his stomach, all annoyance gone. He could feel that he had just made a terrible mistake.

"To answer your question, no. I have use for you yet." The mobian turned his cold eyes to the white-faced Overlander. "However, in asking, you have violated our agreement. You were to unquestioningly obey my every order. No questions. Good day, Overlander."

He closed his fist tightly. The effect was instantaneous.

" _NO! Please!_ "

The Commander's eyes rolled up in his head as he slammed face-first into the desk and slid, lifelessly, to the floor.

 _WHAM._

As the first mobian stepped through the doorway, he quietly commanded, " _Follow."_

The other two silently fell in step behind him. A line of motionless mobians stood at attention, waiting for their leader to pass.

"Status?" he murmured.

"My Lord Draer," one of the guards that had followed him into the office humbly said, "The agent at INSTAR awaits your command."

The lead mobian nodded his understanding. "Tell him to make sure of her influence. Then he is free to rejoin his brethren."

There was a sudden flurry of movement from the left side of the hallway. A scowl grew on the leader's face as he motioned for his followers to stop.

"Ah, you," he muttered. A mobian Hedgehog in a red and gold jumpsuit had his back pressed up against the wall, shaking uncontrollably as he took rapid, shallow breaths through his nose. "I knew you would give me trouble."

He lifted a hand to smooth back the pointed blue ears. A low growl erupted from the hedgehog's throat as he glared at the first mobian with smoldering emerald eyes.

The mobian leader stepped back into line and commanded, "Control him."

The blue Hedgehog clenched his navy-gloved fists and lowered his head to his chest for several moments. When he raised it again, the shaking had stopped and his eyes had dulled. He gave his lord a slow, reassuring smile.

"Very good."

The motley line of followers continued down the hallway of G.U.N. without any further incidents. They walked in sync with perfectly harmonious movements. And burned into every neck was a diamond-shaped tattoo.

 **A/N: I won't give anything away about that last scene (:3) but I have a quick thing to share about Shadow's narration. I love Shadow, but loathe the way most of his voice actors sound. They make him sound like he's struggling to put words together – the phrase that comes to mind is "verbal constipation." But since his manner of speech is part of his character, I decided that perhaps he thinks differently than he hears people talk, so while his thoughts are formal and contraction-less, his words are carefully slurred to sound more casual. That's why everything but the dialogue sounds so…unnatural. –Ginge, with love**


	3. Cat and Needlemouse

"Oh, let me get that for you."

Beside me were Miles's office and the Fox himself. Behind was the exit, and before me was the lion's den- or should I say, the lion _cub's_ den. But a lion could do a whole lot worse to the average mobian than a Cat could, and I was far from an average mobian - especially in this situation - so I was not particularly worried.

Miles swiped a keycard into the slot by the door; there was a slight _click_ as it unlocked. As I pushed the door open slightly, I looked over my shoulder at Miles, who hadn't gone back into his office yet. I was met by the creepiest smile I had ever seen on man or beast. His nervous movements had completely ceased, and he held his shoulders at an almost predatory angle. Sensing a threat, I almost attacked him on reflex.

" _Yes?"_ I asked through gritted teeth. He had no right to smirk at me like that.

The grin dropped off his face, and his nervous movements resumed. "Oh, sorry. I'll go back to my office now…."

Something was still off. I narrowed my gaze, searching his face. Something was wrong with his eyes… they were dull, the pupils tinted red like an albino's. He darted back into his office and slammed the door shut.

I shook my head and pushed the heavy door completely open. The white tile followed me through the threshold of a bright, square room with intense white walls. Even more intense was a loud buzzing in my head, not caused by the florescent lights above my head. I recognized it as the same buzz, though not as strong, that I had gotten back at Lucas- the sound was almost a feeling, and it spread to my fingers and toes, making them numb.

Still gripping the syringe in my hand, I crossed the room, letting the door shut behind me. There were only two spots of grey in the entire space: some sort of gravel-filled box sunken into the corner of the room, and a small grey striped Cat lying peacefully on a white mat on the floor, her hands tightly clasped and resting on her stomach. Making a slow circle around her, I debated how I should do this. Sit her upright? Pick her up? The buzzing was making it hard to think. I took a breath and rolled her onto her stomach, her tail flopping lifelessly as her body turned.

Just like that, the buzzing was gone.

Breathing slowly with relief, I grabbed the loose skin below her feathery gray hair. Biting the cap off the syringe, I slid the needle up through the hollow created by the pull of her pelt, parallel to the spine, and pushed down the plunger as instructed. Satisfied that the tube was empty, I pulled it out and recapped it. As I did so, I saw that my gloves were blood red _again_.

I turned to the wall that separated this room form Miles' office, and was met with my own determined expression. The window that I had seen in the other room must have actually been a two-way mirror.

"Kitsune," I demanded, holding up my hand, "What is this?"

 _Click._ "What is what?" _Click._

Miles' voice came out of a speaker in the ceiling, obviously controlled by the pressing of a button, like some intercom systems.

"My glove keeps getting colored by something. Do you have any theories on what that something is?"

 _Click._ "You feeling okay? Your glove is white… is it not supposed to be?" _Click._

I stared at the mirror in stony silence. After a few moments, a small compartment opened up on the wall by the two-way mirror.

 _Click._ "O-kay then, just stick 'em in there with the syringe and I'll take a look at 'em later." _Click._

I crossed the room, stripping off my gloves, and stuck the three items in the angled metal bin, which was probably designed to be open in the other room when it appeared to be closed on the other side. As the compartment clanged shut, I heard a dull thump behind me. I whirled around, readying myself to do whatever needed to be done.

 _Click._ "Ah, she's awake." _Click._

Awake she was. Desdemona was already standing on two feet, tail bushed, claws out, ears back, and hissing. Her pale grey eyes, heavily outlined with black, were narrowed at the mirror and, indirectly, at me.

"What should I be doing now, exactly?" I asked, much relieved. Despite her attempts to be "scary," I was unimpressed. If she was truly psychotic, she would have attacked immediately.

Before Miles could reply, she dropped her stance, posture completely relaxed, and flicked her tail disinterestedly. Without another sound, she meandered to one of the walls and stroked it with both hands. As I watched, she lifted an exceptionally small hand off the smooth white surface and began to draw a line around the room with one finger.

 _Click._ "Just thought I'd point out a little somethin' here-" Miles said suddenly, "-if you would be so kind as to look at her feet for me, you'll notice the arch of her foot has elongated considerably, and the bones higher up her leg have been shortened… we aren't really sure _why_ this is yet, but the structure is reminiscent of all feline species from before the First Day of Fury, when Earth ended and life on Mobius began anew." _Click._

Prompted by his rather flashy dialogue, I looked at her feet for one moment but quickly looked away. She was walking on her toes, forced to take slow, deliberate steps to avoid falling over. Her instinct seemed to be telling her to walk upright, but her body refused to cooperate. She held her over-long, almost Raccoon-like tail several inches above the floor to help keep balance, but it was rather sad to watch, like a bird with broken wings. It definitely had that Uncanny Valley effect.

Once she got to the mirror, she lifted her hand and studied the fixture closely, her eyes tracking some sort of movement beyond it. After a moment, unexpectedly, she waved. Moving on, she continued to feel her line until she reached the point at which she began. Then she plopped down on the floor in front of the wall and _stared._

 _Click._ "Welp, _that_ was weird… I don't know what she's looking at now, maybe one of the cameras – I don't doubt that her eyesight is that good - but when I noticed she could see me through the glass I waved, and she waved _back-ack-ack…_ hey Shadow… can you do something for me?" Not waiting for an answer he said, "Wave your hand like you're throwing a baseball or something." _Click._

A bit suspicious about his request, I drew my hand to my chest and swiped it out in an arc with minimum force.

" _WHOA!"_

A blazing red fireball came out of nowhere, blackening the two-way mirror and licking three out of the four walls, strangely leaving me and the Cat completely unharmed. After a minute of snarling obscenities at the Fox for asking me to do whatever-I-had-just-done, I choked out, "What was _THAT?!"_

 _Click._ "I'm not- _ARRG!_ "

 _K-SHHHT SHHRT!_

Miles let out a yell and the intercom shorted out. After a few seconds of static, a piercing whine drilled through my skull. I instinctively pressed my ears against my head. "Miles! What's going on?!"

Either he couldn't hear me or wasn't able to answer. I hastened to the door and was forced to uncover one ear in order to look for some way to force my way out. There was a button by the door, but if it was that easy, Desdemona could escape at any time… but intelligent people have been known to overlook such things, so I took a chance and smashed my finger into the button. I saw a small light flash- it was a finger-print scanner, got it.

After a _click_ I dug my fingers into the doorframe, since the designer didn't have quite enough insight to include a door handle. I glanced over my shoulder, ears pinned to my head in pain, to make sure the Kitten stayed put. She hadn't made any sign that she could sense that anything was going on.

I thought getting into the Kitsune's office would be the most difficult part, next to keeping myself from bashing his skull in for the unexpected fireball. To my surprise both his office _and_ the exit door were wide open, half-wrenched off their hinges.

"Fox-boy?" I asked cautiously, peering through the small foyer. I let the door to Desdemona's room shut behind me.

The small, cramped office was dimmer than it had been a few minutes ago; the blackened mirror prevented the usual amount of light from getting in, so I couldn't see into the shadows until my eyes adjusted to the darkness. Several papers were still drifting to the ground like snow. There was a dark figure sprawled out on the floor; I could make out the white stripes on a sleeveless t-shirt…

"Mmmn… my 'ead…" a voice muttered, rising slowly from the ground.

"What happened in here?" I asked from the doorway.

Miles screamed like a small female, slipped on several sheets of paper, and landed on his twin tails. "What- What are- Why-?!"

"What am I doing here?" I asked, a bit taken aback.

"Yes - oh, OH! The kid! That's right! I'm sorry, I'll get you all set up, I'm sorry, but _ow_ , my head…" He picked himself back up off the floor and scrambled for the small refrigerator. Even though he was saying a lot at once, his tone was professionally apologetic instead of intensely nervous.

When he pulled out two small purple bottles, I said, "What're you doing? I've done that already!"

Miles turned back to me, confused. "What do ya mean, 'I've done that already?'"

He seemed to realize something the moment I noticed something myself.

"Oh! How could I have forgotten-!"

"Did you not use to have a tattoo?"

There was a moment of silence.

"Come again?" Miles said politely, since we had spoken at the same time.

"Your neck. Did you not use to have a tattoo?" Where the shape of a diamond used to be was nothing but smooth yellow fur.

The Fox laughed and rubbed his neck, as if genuinely amused. "A tattoo? Ain't nobody got time fo' that! You must've hit your head as well…"

He had a bit of a point… why _would_ he get a tattoo? For a mobian, that would mean getting a specific patch of fur lasered off several times, getting the skin inked, and then regularly having the surrounding fur trimmed. It seemed like a lot of work for a simple diamond.

I frowned at him, crossing my arms. "What do you remember?"

Miles shrugged. "Well I remember everything _now,_ I just had a little memory lapse is all." I lowered my head at him, and he hastily added, "I was sitting here, talking to ya, and a muscle in my neck started twitching and I think I hit my head on the control panel."

"So you didn't see anyone? These doors are dented badly…"

The Fox smiled helplessly and he shrugged. My eyes narrowed as I stared into his. Strange… when I had looked at his eyes earlier, they were dull and the pupils looked red, but now they looked as ordinary as ever… "It looks like whatever just happened wrecked a lot of the observation equipment, so, ah, that's all we can do for today."

I stared at him blankly. "But I've hardly arrived."

"Well, my hands are tied. We just can't move on. But I mean, it's almost sunset, you can take a look around Cadmium City, get acquainted, find a place to stay." He opened a drawer and pulled out a stapled packet of papers. "I have some paperwork for you, if you wanna get a head start…?"

Groaning inwardly, I took his offering and a pen from a jar. I hate paperwork. "Why not."

"Excellent!" Miles said, clasping his hands together excitedly. "See ya tomorrow, partner!"

To play off my involuntary eye roll, I looked through the darkened window one last time. Desdemona had not moved still. This could potentially be a very boring, paperwork-heavy assignment. "'Til then."

* * *

Cadmium City is a feast for the senses.

From the highway, the lights bleed into the black sky like smoke, blotting out the stars while snarling cars glow red and gold in a state of perpetual gridlock - an indication that Downtown Cadmium is a mostly an Overlander-inhabited place. Only _they_ would be stupid enough to simultaneously pollute the air while stuck in traffic every day.

On the last bend of the road, the city rises up from the trees, skyscrapers like jagged shards of obsidian, reflecting all the light surrounding them tenfold as they shine their own boxy lights and flashing advertisements. Once I had skated to the first skyscraper within the city limits, a strange feeling urged me to deactivate my ancient hover skates. Sightseeing isn't something I often do. Slowing down to walk at the speed of the growing number of pedestrians next to the endless bottleneck of sleek, oily sports cars and grimy yellow taxi cabs, which honked perpetually as if causing a racket would result in progress, I made my way into the shadows of the doorways, not wanting to be spotted in the crowd or to seem suspicious by sliding around the puddles of light created by streetlights.

Another feeling urged me to turn my face to the heavens. So few people look up anymore… Many of the skyscrapers were topped with lightning rods, which were illuminated by floodlights stationed on the rooftops. In the apex of the sky you could see the ghostly shape of the full moon. In addition to the smoldering glow of the passing taillights and upcoming headlights reflecting wetly on the face of every window, all of the skyscrapers were outlined with their own cheerful streams of ropy neon lights. Colorful billboards hung in every available space, advertising everything from toothpaste to the next Forget-Me-Knots concert.

The best thing about Cadmium City was the air. Strangely enough, I have never been bothered by the smells of city life: gasoline and unwashed bodies, the breeze laced with a subtle whiff of expensive perfume and cigar smoke. It was the heat that made me most uncomfortable; I was born in the cold darkness of space, after all. But the air here was surprisingly cool, with the slightest hint of autumn rain.

Walking at the level of spiral-domed casinos and jewelry stores is not something I often find myself doing. I preferred to run through traffic, jump rooftops, or ride something loud and fast. This was a rare perspective. I _had_ made a mental note to, in addition to buying new gloves, look into purchasing a new motorbike, but the state of perpetual traffic jam made the idea less appealing. Additionally, most citizens do not enjoy when I ride my vehicles over their cars. After years of self-denial, I have made it a habit to save such things for emergencies.

Taking one last look at the boisterous roar of city traffic, I ducked my head and took an abrupt turn down a dark alley between two high-rise apartments. It was actually a miracle no one had recognized me yet. The last thing I needed was for another city to duck-and-cover in fear of another alien attack. Such false alarms happen periodically.

I climbed a fire escape, darting past illuminated windows and trying not to listen too hard to the conversations within. At the final landing I jumped up onto the railing and hoisted myself onto the flat-topped roof. There was not much up there except for boxes and air conditioning units. I crunched across the gravel to the far edge overlooking the heart of the city, perching with my feet off the side. It was a beautiful place for something as distasteful as paperwork.

I took out the papers that the Fox had given me along with the ballpoint pen. Maybe I would ask him one day if he had figured out how we mobians could put away or take out objects from nowhere. Clicking the pen and pressing the paper against my leg, I skimmed the questions. They were mostly about my understanding of Chaos Energy and my current relationship with it. Those were the questions I was not sure why they wanted to know. The rest were about what I knew about the Demon Project – which was not much – and what had happened at Lucas Industries. I sighed and began to write.

* * *

"Oh! You're here!"

I fixed Miles with a steady look as he stood eagerly from his chair. "Were you not expecting me?"

"Yes! I mean, no!"

I drew my ears back and folded my arms. Miles casually slid in front of Desdemona's door and asked, "So, how was downtown Cadmium?

"Quiet, for all of its noise." And interesting too; after the paperwork I had toured the whole city until sunrise. I tilted my head threateningly. "What are you hiding?"

"Hiding?" Miles said, blue eyes widening. "What do you mean?"

"You're blocking the door, Fox."

It was actually quite obvious. Miles grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, you got me, but get this - the Kitty talks!"

"Earth-shattering. Let me pass, please." I made another move towards the door. Miles moved to block me. Ancients help him if I had to remove him by force…

The boy didn't seem to hear me. "Yeah, she never seems to shut up, actually-"

"Nor do you!" I snapped, forcing the paperwork into his hands. Miles flattened his ears against his head and swiped his card in the lock. I shot him a glare as I opened the door and he shuffled back to his desk.

"I was under the impression that 'tomorrow' meant 'dawn,'" a high, cold voice said. An understandable assumption, I suppose. Though there were no windows in there, so how one could tell the time of day from inside was a mystery. I turned to see a silver-grey cat with pale red eyes glaring up at me from only a step away.

"You have grown," I said, surprised, shutting the door behind me.

Indeed she had. Desdemona had grown a foot at least, and her ill-fitting white scrubs showed it. Her fur and cowlick of hair on her head had lightened too - stripes and all - and of course her now reddish eyes... that was the most unnerving of all... And you know, it's strange, but I suddenly remembered how much I hate children...

 _Click_. "Check out the feet," Miles said over the probably-newly-repaired intercom, "Strange, huh?"

I stared at the maybe eight or nine-year-old's feet. They were completely normal, if a bit disproportionally small, and she was standing like the typical mobian. She looked at them doubtfully and said, "My feet are perfectly normal, thank you very much."

Miles snickered over the intercom, "Isn't she the cutest?" _Click_.

I sighed at his inappropriate comment. She had done nothing to merit "cuteness". Her head snapped up and she hissed, "I am not 'cute,' _machafu mwana wa nguruwe_!"

"What language is she speaking?" I asked. Something about her was making my skin crawl. My quills itched with unfounded annoyance. I could tell I would not enjoy this experience.

 _Click_. Giggling; "I haven't got the slightest idea." _Click_.

"What are you called?" Desdemona asked me. It sounded less like a question and more like a demand, like a police officer making an arrest. I still did not understand the "cuteness" and thought that perhaps the Fox's mind had gone soft.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog."

"Humph," she muttered, "I do not like it. It does not suit you."

I dropped my arms to my sides with surprise. I usually get the opposite reaction, where the speaker politely tells me it's a delightfully suitable name, even though every dunce that's ever walked in the sunlight knows that shadows are neither red nor white.

"Though a rude statement, I understand your opinion," I said through a heavy brow.

Her wide, black-rimmed red eyes glanced at me for a moment, then she curiously said, "And what am I called?"

"You are called Desdemona," I said helpfully.

" _Kubwa mtoaji wa machafuko_!" she exclaimed, which was not exactly the reaction I was looking for. "That is a lot of name for such a small person!"

"It's not so bad," I frowned, consoling her before she could throw a fit over not liking her name.

"Bah! You would not know!" she huffed, sitting down hard and wrapping her excessively thick tail around her body. "I am not four syllables tall. I am two, at the most. Four is just ridiculous."

Nonsense. Utter nonsense. This must be a new form of torture. Commander Tower is a cruel, cruel man.

 _Click_. "Hey, Shadow, I think she wants a nickname." _Click_.

"Not so," Desdemona cut in. "I already possess this 'nicked-name'. I am called Dem."

 _Click_. "Oh hey, Shadow, Desdemona… _Dem_ …sorry to interrupt, but we have some tests we have to go to, remember?" _Click_.

Ah yes, I remembered something about testing being scheduled today. Which brought up the question: "How do you propose we transport this…Dem? You said yesterday that we had to wake her up so we could flush the sedatives out of her system. So we cannot re-sedate her…"

Miles was silent for a good thirty seconds. "I'm not sure, actually." _Click_.

I groaned inwardly at the genius's stupidity. "You did not think this over very well, Fox-boy."

"As I pointed out earlier," Dem interjected, "My feet are fine. I am perfectly capable of transporting myself."

 _Click_. "Sorry, kid," Miles stated plainly, "We don't trust ya." _Click_.

The cat looked crestfallen. "I may not be a child, but I _am_ trustworthy."

"You mean you _are_ a child-" I corrected patiently.

"I am _not_!" Dem interrupted, wide-eyed.

"- _Are_ a child, but dangerous still. Not even four days ago you hospitalized several full-grown men." I finished firmly.

Dem sighed and said, "I do not remember any men…" Before I could think of something to say about this, she added, "But I _am_ very dangerous." Her eyes lighted on mine. "I _am_ the Ultimate Lifeform, after all."

I groaned inwardly. _I may not survive this assignment._ "No, you are _not_. _I_ am the Ultimate Lifeform!"

She cocked her head to the side. "You are called 'The Ultimate Lifeform'? That name is worse than your last! And you _must_ survive. _He_ is coming."

Mind reading was on a whole other level of "not okay." The damned thing was leeching my thoughts somehow. I could feel my pelt begin to heat up, vision starting to glow slightly red. One flaw I will admit to is reacting with anger when faced with any strong or unfamiliar emotion. Right now, I didn't know _what_ I was feeling. She wasn't making any _sense_! She just claimed she was the ultimate lifeform, but then- I- she-

It was so… so… _frustrating!_ Unpredictable to the point that I could no longer follow her thoughts fast enough to counter them. I heard, once, that it is ill-advised to argue with the insane, for you will soon forget who the sane one is. And there is no way to argue logic with illogic.

 _Click_. "Uh, Shadow? The lab just sent a shock collar. I think if we-"

I grabbed Dem's wrist, yanked her off the floor, and dragged her to the exit. I had had enough of this nonsense. She seemed too surprised to struggle. "Don't need it."

"But if she gets away-"

I glared at the young Cat. Her black-lipped mouth was hanging open in confusion as she glared back. A small but growing part of me wanted to smack the look right off.

"She won't."

* * *

I do not wish to describe in much detail the walk to the medical wing. Every few seconds she would begin to chatter nonsense until I tugged her arm sharply.

When she first saw Miles, she said "You are not blue," completely dumbfounded. She seemed to be thinking hard after that, and continually tried to drift closer to me, making me trip. "I am Dem," she whispered at one point, as if reminding herself.

Once we finally reached the wing, Professor Reed practically sprinted over to us.

"Miles! What were you _thinking?_ " he whispered sharply, trying not to draw the other scientists' attention to the fact that the little monster could escape at any moment.

I deliberately let go of her wrist. She made a small noise and tried to grab my hand back. I nearly jumped out of my skin from the sudden contact, but disguised it by forcefully folding my arms. "Calm down. She's all talk. If you're calm, I trust she will remain harmless."

Reed called over an orderly, who nervously approached from behind and put his hand on her shoulder. She immediately began to run but the Mink orderly was quick and grabbed her around the middle and hoisted her into the air. She squirmed, yowling, and kicked him in the stomach. Winded, the Mink let her go and she flew at the unsuspecting Miles. I finally got a good look at her claws as they sank deep into his chest. They were black and long enough to pass for steak knives. I grimaced in spite of myself as Miles cried out and I wrestled her off of him.

"Calm down," I hissed. I think I was finally doing my job. She went limp in my arms almost immediately, hiding her face and shivering. I did not feel the slightest ounce of sympathy. I growled to Reed, "Where first?"

The Mink was helping Miles off the floor, who look as if he may cry. He was clutching his chest, which was seeping blood through his clothes. The others in the room were pretending not to notice anything that was happening in our corner. Reed's composure was impressive. He swallowed hard, and then cordially said, "There."

I sat the Cat on an exam table covered by sterile paper. She stared at the telescoping light overhead. Reed got a thermometer and its plastic sleeve out of a drawer and asked her to open her mouth for him. She did so immediately, which I believe surprised everyone. I did not know where to look, so I watched the Mink get bandages out of the cupboards, presumably for the Fox.

"Mr. Hedgehog, is it alright if we take a scan of you too?" Reed asked without looking at me. I grunted. The thermometer beeped and he took it out of her mouth to examine it.

"Jeremy just wants you to be proud of him."

We both turned our heads to stare at Desdemona, who was looking at the professor sadly. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to ask a question, but a Rabbit nurse appeared by his side and asked, "How's her temperature today?"

Shaking himself, the Otter said, "Lower than yesterday. Dramatically lower."

He took a small flashlight out of his lab coat and shined it briefly in both of Dem's eyes. "Her eyes seem healthy. Are we ready for those scans?"

The Rabbit nurse smiled and held out a hand to the Cat, who looked at it blankly. After a pregnant pause, she daintily placed her small paw in the nurse's hand and allowed her to help her off of the exam table. They began to make their way over to a large white machine in an adjoining partitioned section of the room, so Reed and I followed. The other mobians gave us all wide berth as we passed.

As they reached the table in front of the circular opening of the machine, Dem grew visibly distressed, beginning to pull away.

"It's alright hun," the Rabbit said. "It won't hurt a bit."

"What is this thing?" I asked Reed quietly.

Reed seemed a bit proud. "It's a CIM – Chaos Imaging Machine. We've been working on it for years and years. We've been able to learn a lot about mobian anatomy and how Chaos Control works. It's quick and very effective, though it doesn't work well for Overlanders. Though we haven't tested it on humans, we doubt it'll work at _all_ for them. No Chaos Potential, y'know."

I had a few questions I wanted to ask, but I had a duty to help their _current_ research. "I could be scanned first, if that would be alright. Show its harmlessness?"

"Of course!" Reed said enthusiastically. I got the impression that he had hoped I would volunteer. After all, I am the most adept mobian at Chaos Control.

The nurse had been listening, and instructed how I should lay. "The machine tracks the movement of Chaos Energy, which can travel through every aspect of your being, as a mobian. This scan will only be measuring brain activity."

I sat on the CIM and stared the Cat down until she met my eyes. "Watch me."

As soon as I laid down the machine began to hum and pull me in. The ceiling slid away and was replaced by the grayed interior and a square screen. I realized that I could sense a Chaos Emerald very close nearby. It gave me a strange comfort, but I was also a bit disturbed by the fact that I had not sensed it earlier. After a couple moments of restfully clearing my mind, the screen lit up and displayed the INSTAR logo. Random images and sounds began to play, which I assumed were meant to cause a reaction within my mind.

A field. Laughter. An empty street. The ocean. Screaming. Fire. Sky divers. A badger family eating dinner. Gazelle children crying. Jazz music. A couple slow dancing. A man hanging from a noose. Popcorn popping.

Maria.

Her face startled me. I had only seen it in dreams for the past few years, and that was happening less frequently. Her blue eyes looked so profoundly sad that a lump formed in my throat. And then the image was gone, replaced by a Porcupine baby that gurgled happily as it was fed mush.

After a couple more minutes the INSTAR logo appeared again and the screen went dark. As soon as I reached the outside of the machine, I swiped a hand across my eyes and heaved upright. It felt like I had been sleeping deeply. Dem was waiting exactly where I had seen her last, with the Rabbit nurse. She grabbed my hand with both of her much smaller paws.

"Cut that out," I said crossly, pulling away. She stuck out her tongue and turned away, feigning indifference. I slid off the table and grabbed her under the arms, swinging her I came from. Once again, she made no effort to resist. "Your turn."

She pinned me with her pale eyes and sang, "Bright eyes, blue as skies, red as the morning sun doth rise. Bright eyes, golden, wise, lavender light as daylight dies. Bright eyes-"

The shock of hearing the song I would hear from the lips of Maria's nanny every time Maria was scared in the night paralyzed me for several lines. When I came to my senses, I hunched to her eye level and whispered, "Where did you hear that song, Dem?"

She stopped singing and glanced at Reed and the nurse, who were watching intensely. She turned her attention back to me and solemnly tapped my forehead.

"You heard it in my head?" Once again, I did not know how to feel. I felt… exposed. Violated, maybe.

But before I could say anything else, she took my face in her hands and placed a kiss on my temple, and whispered in my ear, "I am afraid of you. And for you. For us both. I am not their only test subject, Shadow the Hedgehog."

She laid down without another word, staring determinedly upwards.

"A word, Shadow?"

I glanced over my shoulder to see Miles. He had removed his shirt and was wearing his lab coat over his bandages instead. I gave a slight nod, then followed him across the room and hallway into another room. I could sense that he had something weighing on his mind. The room, which seemed to function as some sort of security center, had a desk with two chairs, two computers with keyboards, and a wall plastered with television screens. Military time counted off at the corner of every monitor. Strangely enough, the images all seemed to be of a familiar- and currently empty- white room.

Miles sat down in one of the chairs and patted the back of the one next to his, inviting me to sit. I remained standing.

As the Fox began rewinding the footage on the screens, he said, "I want to show you something we caught on the security cameras after I left last night. Something I think you should see."

I saw figures darting around in the well-lit room briefly, and then the lights in the room went black and green.

"Night vision cameras. Low quality imaging, but effective enough," Miles explained. The cameras stopped at 23:57:56:04. Desdemona was sitting down, facing the wall. Each screen showed a different view of the scene, but my eyes settled on the camera that she stared directly into her face, her retinas glowing white through her dilated pupils. "The sound is blown out from the incident yesterday, but you can still pretty much tell what's happening. Almost at the part…"

23:59:59:59

00:00:00:00

"There she goes!"

A sudden tremor ran through the then-infantile cat's body; her face twisted in what appeared to be a silent scream as her eyes rolled back in her head-

"I'm, uh, gonna fast-forward a little. It's kinda disturbing at the beginning."

The tape sped up and once it stopped, Desdemona was laying spread eagle on her back in the middle of the room, glowing an assortment of bright colors. They transitioned slowly at first, and then picked up speed, flashing through the rainbow. The cameras must have sensed the light and transferred over to normal. Inexplicably, red started taking the place of other colors until the overhead lights sensed the light as well and activated.

Still pulsing crimson, her body gave one mighty twist and, as her hair flowed briefly from her skull, her limbs seemed to shoot out and realign themselves to the figure I now knew as Dem.

The red flush immediately dissipated. The overhead lights followed suit.

We were silent.

"…So what happened?" I finally asked.

Miles smoothed his bangs back. "I hope we'll figure that out in a few minutes. As you may or may not know, INSTAR stands for 'Investigational Neuro-Sociological Testing and Research.' It started out specializing in neurosociology, but it's kind of evolved into a research lab for Chaos Energy. That's why we asked to take Sub Project Desdemona out of the G.U.N.'s hands- she's the first 'bio-weapon' we've had in decades. I think it's pretty clear Lucas Industries was trying to create a Chaos-based life form." The Kitsune glanced at me. "A copy-cat project, if you will."

"So what is she supposed to do, exactly?" I was starting to miss G.U.N.; I needed a straightforward mission involving as few other people as possible.

He shrugged - how helpful. "We don't know. We don't even know if she's an artificial lifeform or some kind of anomaly yet."

There was a rapid knock on the door.

"It's open!" Miles called over his shoulder.

An uncertain-looking weasel in a turtleneck and a lab coat poked his head through the doorway. "The, uh, results from the CIM scans are in."

"That was fast," I observed.

The Fox shrugged then stood, crossing to the door. I followed in suit. "We're right behind you."

The weasel passed the door to me. I followed the two back across the hall and into the examination room. I was greeted almost immediately by Dem, who forced her wrist into my palm. She still could not seem to realize that I would rather not be touched, but I let it slide, just this once. Maria's lullaby was still playing through my thoughts.

The weasel stopped by a door in the back I hadn't noticed at first. As I followed, the Otter, Professor Reed, stopped me at the doorway and said, "I need to discuss something with Dr. Prower in private first."

I nodded slowly and waited as the pair passed me and the door closed. The Weasel left with a curious look over his shoulder. I could feel Dem's eyes on me. As I turned my head, we made brief eye contact before she looked away. I could swear that as she did, she slowly mouthed " _Maria"_.

I could hear the rise and fall of the conversation through the door. At one point, I very clearly heard Miles say, "It's _awkward,_ professor! If I wanted awkward, I would've become a urologist!"

"You're his _partner_ , Miles."

After a time the door was finally opened by Miles, who had a strange expression back on his face. Dem and I silently followed him in. The only things in the room were a gurney and a flat-screen TV. The walls were painted blue, for a change, instead of white. The Fox looked briefly at the professor, who nodded reassuringly.

"Chaos," Miles muttered, rubbing a hand down his face. "Let's start with Desdemona."

He fished a laser pointer out of his lab coat. The TV blinked on, showing a blue 3D model of a brain. As he moved his thumb around on the laser pointer, the image rotated. When he hit a button, the rotating stopped and a spastic green dot began to dance in the brain's center.

"This may _look_ like a regular brain, and the structure of it _is,_ but I've never seen a scan so… blue." He fumbled around with the pointer and another much redder image appeared next to the first. "This is Shadow's scan. This is closer how the brain of a Chaos user is _supposed_ to look, but the way it's functioning is wonky. But I'll get to that in a bit.

"Do you see how Dem's scan is mostly blue, while yours is mostly red? We have this fancy machine that works great, but to be completely honest, we're not entirely sure _how_ it works. When you scan any Chaos Emerald by itself, it shows up white. We currently have the cyan Chaos Emerald installed in the machine, so while most scans show up in colored energy that appears to occur inherently in mobians, they're all tinged with blue. We call these random colors, which react to Chaos Energy, Ancient Chaos or 'Archaos' Energy, because it's clearly been a part of each of us for generations. When a subject comes in contact with Chaos Energy, the Archaos within them directs it into the brain and back out again. This is how we're able to use Chaos Control – Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart, the heart is the controller, all of that.

"After Desdemona's test, we left the scanner running but shut off the cyan Emerald as much as we could." The first image changed into a much dimmer and lighter blue version of itself. "Archaos allows Chaos Energy into our beings, linking us to the Chaos Emeralds, which in turn connects us to the Chaos Force. We've deduced that she _maintains_ her connection to the Chaos Force somehow _without_ the use of the Emeralds, but her energy doesn't really… _do_ anything. It just kind of swirls around until it can be transferred someone else.

"This first assumption one might make is that she's some sort of… living Chaos Emerald. But that's not quite it. Chaos Emeralds can combine their energy but they never mix or borrow. She's something like a Chaos…jar. The Chaos Force slowly drips energy into her, and it sloshes around, completely useless to her, until she has somewhere else to put it.

"So, in short, no one is going to use her as a battery anytime soon. But from what we've learned from _your_ scans, Shadow, her energy is still potent stuff. Give that kid a Chaos Emerald, and who KNOWS what kind of power she could give someone." Miles pushed his fringe back, sighing. "We have to up security now, make sure no one gets their hands on her. We haven't had any villains try to take over the world lately, but those crazies are out there."

He shoved his hands into his pockets, communicating that that was all he wanted to say. Unfortunately, Professor Reed glared at him like he was purposely skipping something important. Miles gave him a pained look, but the Otter's expression did not change. The Fox doctor gritted his teeth and said, "And now for Shadow.

"You're currently running at one hundred percent, as far as Chaos Energy goes, and your powers have stabilized themselves somehow, despite your lack of inhibitors. We believe this is caused by the physical contact you've had with Dem. But that's not too important."

The green laser danced around the center of my own scan. "This section is the limbic system. We have blood tests and tissue samples from G.U.N.. We have this scan here. You…you… You're, like, three."

I tweaked an eyebrow at him. "Um, no, I don't really think so Fox-boy."

He pressed the pack of his hand to his forehead, looking at Reed pleadingly. "No, like, psychosexually. Your brain does everything it's supposed to, but it has zero interest in furthering your alien-Hedgehog race. We have theories and, well, there's nothing really _wrong_ with you; in fact, Professor Robotnik probably madeyou this way on _purpose_."

I am quite sure my expression communicated my dumbfounded state perfectly. In fact, I believe my eye twitched. I looked down at Dem and said, "Does she need to be here for this?"

She looked at me and said, "I am _exceedingly_ lost."

Miles shook his whole body. "I'm not going into any more detail than I have to. This is way more uncomfortable for me than it is for you, I promise." He looked at me resolutely. "Overlanders are xenophobes, Shadow. Professor Robotnik was a great man, but he was still a _man_. He was _scared_. He wanted his creation to be 'perfect.' 'Pure.' Not only was he trying to counteract a bit of Black Doom's evil in making you incapable of some emotions, but my guess is, he was afraid of leaving you alone with his granddaughter."

"…I would have never hurt her," I said quietly, already pushing everything I had heard into the "disregard" corner of my mind.

"And I'm not saying you would have," Miles said, waving his hands. "Quite the opposite, in fact. Romance between Overlanders and mobians isn't as rare as you'd think. But that doesn't make it popular, especially among Overlanders."

Not knowing what else to say, I studied the battered shine of my hover shoes.

"It's not something you have to worry about." I heard him say. "I didn't even think you needed to know, you don't strike me as a family man, but…it's your life and all."

I had never really considered having a family of my own. I had never been taken with anyone, which I suppose is because of my "innocence." If I ever did find a mate, I would outlive her. If I had children, suggesting my artificial form allows for procreation, I'd probably outlive them too. They would not understand the terrible things I have done. They would be ashamed to be my flesh and blood. And then I'd be alone again.

But I did not like having no choice.

"Thank you for telling me, I suppose," I said finally, meeting Miles's dark eyes. "But you're right; I had no intention of starting a family."

"Well then," he said, rubbing his hands together. " _That_ was really awkward, but the torture's not over yet. We have a lot more to do today."

 **A/N: I was originally going to go through the entire day, but I think that 7000+ words is PLEANTY for one chapter ^-^' And thank goodness for medical professionalism! :D That could've been more awkward… It's all important to the plot, I promise :P I just feel bad for Miles… A note about capital letters! You may have noticed by now that most mobian animal species are capitalized. This is a process I borrowed from** _ **Wicked**_ **: if they're sentient animals, their "race" is capitalized. If not, they're not. And, just in case it comes up later (no spoilers), I consider them chao-creatures to be non-sentient, mostly because it gets confusing if you talk about "chaos" and "Chaos" in the same chapter! :S -Ginge, with love**


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